Thank you Members!
Our Fall meeting was a great success! Please watch this page for some fascinating cases and lecture posts!
One great concern was brought up during the course of our meeting and it is vital that everyone sound off on this issue. This concerns our entire profession, our healthcare system, and the health of our patients...
On September 12, 2017 the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) released draft guidelines for cervical cancer screening.
These draft recommendations represent a significant change from current practice:
Pap cytology alone: interval = 3 years; age 21-65
HPV alone: interval =5 years; ages 30-65
Co-testing (Pap plus HPV): Not Included
If these draft USPSTF recommendations are finalized, women may be denied access and reimbursement for screening with co-testing.
The timeline for comments on this draft, extends through October 9, 2017. You can find a copy of the draft guidelines using this link:
Please Take some time to write thoughtful commentary on this draft!!!
Here is also a link from ACOG, as they are reviewing the data used by USPSTF to determine this draft (all EU data).
Hologic has provided additional information and resources via this website:
Please keep the following in mind:
- There are multiple reasons ACOG & ASCCP have co-testing as their preferred method of Cervical Cancer Screening. The vast amount of data supporting these positions is strong and has not changed over the years.
- Co-testing is standard of care in the United States with >65% adoption.
- 1 in 5 Cervical Cancers would be missed using HPV alone (Blatt study).
- Co-testing would catch ~70% of the HPV negative Cervical cancers that HPV alone misses (Blatt study)
- It seems that all the recent US data was ignored by the USPSTF in their assessment of guideline changes
- Non-US studies are being used to determine US guidelines, ignoring key differences in patient demographics and testing methodologies used in the states.
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